Letters to the Editor

After Sixty Years, a Sweatshirt!

Editor’s Note: The following letter was received by IUP Magazine’s records editor, Susan Kirchner. A photo of the writer in his new sweatshirt appears in Alumni Extra.

Thank you for your help in sending the phone number of the Co-op to me. I ordered the Indiana sweatshirt, and when the fall and winter seasons appear here in the desert, I will certainly display my Alma Mater, among the numerous USC shirts.

I can recall that in 1947–1951, we did not have access to Indiana sweatshirts. I can remember that when I was student body president, the dean arranged a trip to Columbia University in New York City for the secretary, treasurer, and me to attend. I was given the honor of delivering a speech to a convention of college-elected student body government personnel.

We traveled by train and stayed at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City. What a wonderful memory. We, from Indiana, did not have identity sweatshirts. Now, I have one! As soon as the cool weather comes, I will wear it, and my wife will take a picture of me. I will send you a copy.

—William H. Keister ’51, M’65
Desert Hot Springs, Calif.

Got Your Back: Judging from evidence displayed on one student’s back, a snowball fight had recently concluded near Leonard Hall in this photo from the midsixties. Is that an officer of the law in the center? Can anyone identify the perpetrators or the passersby? If you have answers, let us know. If you have photographs, scrapbooks, or memorabilia to donate, contact Harrison Wick at the University Archives in Stapleton Library at 724-357-3039 or hwick@iup.edu.

Click on image to enlarge it.
Photo: University Archives

Aviatrice ID

Editor’s Note: IUP researcher Theresa McDevitt received the following e-mail message in response to this photo that appeared at the top of page 3 in the Fall issue.

Tonight, when catching up on my IUP Magazine, I came across a photo of my dear friend and sorority sister (Alpha Sigma Alpha). It was a photo of Jean Liddicoat Hall from Frackville, Pa. (She was the woman standing in the foreground.) We were so proud of her when she was chosen for the aviation training program in ’40 or ’41. We graduated in ’41, and, as far as I remember, she did not continue in aviation but went on to have a lifetime career in teaching Home Economics in Frackville, where she lived until she died, about three or four years ago. I visited Jean several times in my trips east to Pennsylvania from my home in Palo Alto, Calif.

My mother, Maud Sensenich Griffith, told me about her time at Indiana Normal in the early 1900s. After dinner in John Sutton Hall, the young men and women would promenade in the long hallway. One group would walk clockwise and the other, counterclockwise. I suppose it was a mild form of courtship. It wasn’t till I traveled in Spain that I learned the Spanish had done it for a very long time. I've forgotten the Spanish word for it.

When I was at Indiana, Jimmy Stewart would occasionally come home to visit his parents. He would be invited to speak to the student body at ISTC. At that time he had graduated from Princeton and was beginning to work in New York City in live theater. I don’t believe he sang or danced, so he just talked to us and had a Q-and-A session.

—Gwen Griffith Brechin ’41
Palo Alto, Calif.

Wonderful Turnabout

There are many good things to say about the IUP Magazine, but special domains are the class notes, where we see the impressive and often unique contributions made by IUP grads. Much as I implore them, Social Studies Education grads are such an uncharacteristically modest crowd. Those who suffered this old one are enjoying each other via e-mail, shared on-line teaching, etc.

Last spring, one of our teachers over at Richland High School trained me in regard to on-line co-teaching of a sociology class. This continues now. In the process, we involved another of our gang teaching at Buena Vista High School in Virginia. An IUP D.Ed. teaching at Indiana State University who is a tech whiz became interested in what we were doing. The upshot: we have an article in the chapter he submitted for a book on latest modes-methods in tech-teaching!

Our social studies students are Virgil Wenturine ’96 and Paul Bevington ’99. Our D.Ed., who worked under George Bieger, is Larry Tinnerman D’07. Altogether, these IUP grads are making a cutting-edge difference in social studies education. And, in the process, they taught this latter-day Luddite how to tech-teach! Wonderful turnabout when students teach the old prof!

Well-Written, Well-Read

I was reading the magazine yesterday and wanted to tell you how much I liked “Staying Positive.” It was interesting and well-written. In fact, I read the whole thing, which is the gauge I use to measure a good piece of writing.

Thanks for continuing to create a magazine I really enjoy.

—Pat Frantz Cercone ’85
Bradford, Pa.

Appreciation

The most recent issue of the IUP Magazine is wonderful. I especially enjoyed the article on “Where Pap Worked.”

Thanks for keeping me on the mailing list. As always, you’re doing a fabulous job.

—Peter Smits
Fresno, Calif.

Editor’s Note: The writer was IUP’s first vice president of Institutional Advancement and has filled a similar role at Fresno State since the midnineties.